Nokia aims to give itself a health boost by buying Withings

And it won't come cheap

One-time mobile phone giant Nokia has announced it's planning to buy French health and wearables company Withings for a cool US$191 million (about £131m, AU$247m).

It means Withings will become a specific part of Nokia Technologies, joining the likes of the Ozo camera and N1 Tablet divisions.

Microsoft bought the phone division of Nokia in 2013, and the Finnish company has been looking for ways to re-enter the consumer space ever since.

Back on its feet

Rajeev Suri, president and CEO of Nokia said: "With this acquisition, Nokia is strengthening its position in the Internet of Things in a way that leverages the power of our trusted brand, fits with our company purpose of expanding the human possibilities of the connected world, and puts us at the heart of a very large addressable market where we can make a meaningful difference in peoples' lives."

Withings CEO Cédric Hutchings said: "Since we started Withings, our passion has been in empowering people to track their lifestyle and improve their health and wellbeing.

"We're excited to join Nokia to help bring our vision of connected health to more people around the world."

Nokia has been open with its intention to break into the health and wearables space, and buying a respected company like Withings is an obvious way of doing so.

Withings produces a variety of products, including fitness trackers and home appliances including connected scales, bed sensors and security camera equipment.

Nokia's purchase will be all-cash, and it's expected to close the deal within the third quarter of 2016. Whether we'll soon be seeing Nokia-branded fitness products remains to be seen.